Overall it felt like a continuation from last year’s BlizzCon. Strangest cosplay I saw was Indiana Jones. There was someone wearing a shirt which read: ‘Guns don’t kill people. Magic Missiles do.’

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I noticed that people at the Gamefaqs forums were taking whatever brief bits of information from http://kotaku.com/ quite literally leading to misunderstandings. Hopefully the information I’ve gathered will clarify some points.

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Left at 7:30 in the morning from Fullerton. Took the 57 Freeway south and got off at Katella.

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This year we had free employee parking so long as you presented the pink pass. Otherwise it would have cost you $10/day.

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BlizzCon Goodie Bag

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There were two types - an Alliance bag (blue) and a Horde bag (red). I got an Alliance. It featured a ‘16 inch inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away’ ($10). It took me a good 30 minutes to inflate the thing. The Horde get: ‘Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48 inch inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty’.

You could find media cameras all around the premises conducting interviews.

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So with hours to spare until the doors to the hall opened I just chilled inside. This year they hadsecurity guards to check your bags before you could enter.

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Got to play Starcraft 2 right off the bat. My biggest issue was vespene gas. They made the assimilator/refinery overheat if you had too many units gathering from it. At that time it would turn red and be temporarily inoperable. Major drag. 20 minutes is not enough time to play. Oh well. Matches were 1-on-1 instead of last year’s 2-on-2. You were able to play all three races: Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. Certain choke points were blocked by garbage that you had to destroy in order to get through.

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11:00 AM Opening ceremony with Mike Morhaime, CEO.

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During the first Blizzcon, tickets sold out within 3 weeks. This year was completely different. There were website problems. Within 15 minutes, 15,000 tickets were sold. People from 27 countries were in attendance. Mike said that if Warcraft was its own country, it would be the 75th most populated country in the world. For those who couldn’t attend, they could still watch BlizzCon footage on pay per view (for $39.95) from Direct TV (www.directv.com/blizzcon).

Blizzard has had over 100 tournaments this year with more than $200,000 given in prize money. There’s even going to be a Starcraft 2 tournament later in the day.

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Next month on November 13th, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be on sale with stores opening at midnight. The developers will be available to sign boxes in Anaheim and other select cities around the country.

Lunch time. I ate an $8 pepperoni pizza. Brought my own bottled water. Otherwise that would have been $2.50 extra.

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1:30 PM Blizzard Sound & Music panel upstairs in Room 204

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Led by Russel Brower, Director of Audio and Video. He does the Protoss music for SC2. Jerry Goldsmith does SC2 Terran music, and Derek Duke does SC2 Zerg music. Glenn Stafford was the founder of the department and worked on full time composing since Warcraft 1.

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Blizzard sound is best heard. It’s harder to describe in words. Sound is much like finding the right marble for a sculptor. The opening chords of Diablo were 12 string. For Diablo 3 they wanted it to start with an ancient feel that builds bigger and bigger until there’s finally a ‘tada!’ moment (refer to the cinematic trailer http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/#movies). They wished to keep to the heritage that Matt Uelmen began in Diablo 2, a kestrel atmosphere. Uelmen has left Blizzard.

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Where do they get their inspiration? Early exposure from a young age. Classical music. Holst: The Planets. Russian influences like Tchaikovsky and the Russian national anthem. Keep your mind open. An idea can come to you anywhere and anytime, even in the worst of times. Keep a voice recorder. You can hum melodies in the car. For Derek it was a looming deadline. Also from the lore and art in the game. The purpose of sound is to serve the needs of the game.

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Wrath of the Lich King will add 7 hours of sound, totaling over 20 hours for World of Warcraft.

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Q/A

What are the qualities in a voice actor? Internal auditions didn’t end up well, although Chris Metzen still retains his role as Thrall. Basically it’s like listening to the radio. You can hear someone who is dripping with character with just a few lines.

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About character specific music such as Illidan and Arthas. It’s like Star Wars character themes. It may have not been intended. They tie in the music to the boss, mobs, and architecture in that area. Arthas was sung by a 10 year old boy alto; 10 minutes was all they needed. An aside joke: Kerrigan versus Arthas, the love story. LOL.

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Did they run out of time when they did the ‘Fight with murmur’? The music was about the space and not necessarily the fight. They wanted to change it up. It’s too easy to do big, scary dude music.

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How does one work for Blizzard starting from the lowest end of the totem pole? One must have passion and imagination. Each of us is a concept artist. Be able to tell a story. Make a demo reel. Russel: ‘We write music all the time.’

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How do they develop the strong melodic themes for World of Warcraft? It’s definitely a choice, done on purpose. They base it off the visual architecture. World of Warcraft is a persistent world. You hear it over and over. They don’t want it to be recognizable at first, rather more atmospheric leaving you with breathing room. It comes back and fades. Don’t want you to get bored with it. Of course there’s big city and important event music. Again, the sound is to serve the game. Not big top 40’s music list.

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Will there be an ambient CD as was brought up last year? Russel made his own ambient CD for himself. It’s still a good idea…

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How do you balance each section (like brass and strings) without the presence of a live orchestra before you all the time? It comes from education and experience. Trial and error. Can also look it up in the literature. The games are evolving to incorporate more live music. Of course they use a synthesizer as a mock up, for kestrel themes they can’t create. Or as a second layer. Even with an orchestrated version, they modify it after they receive it.

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When in the game development cycle does the sound team get involved? From the very beginning. They are on staff everyday.

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How do they like the rockband element such as Level 80 Elite Tauren? It’s in character. It fits the context and it adds humor. In the ending of Warcraft 3 we saw Arthas rocking it out. Jerry: ‘Terrans rock!’

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Just like last year, there was a special arrangement of Lady Sylvanus song, ‘Lament of the Highborne,’by Vangie Gunn. Youtube it.

By the light.
By the light of the sun.
Children of the blood.
Our enemies are breaking through.
Children of the blood.
By the light.
Failing Children of the blood.
They are breakin thorugh.
O children of the blood.
By the light of the sun.
Failing children of the blood.
They are breaking through.
O children of the blood.
By the light of the sun.
Sun..

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3:00 PM Starcraft 2 Gameplay, Main Stage Hall C

Discussion by Dustin Browder, Lead Designer

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He was wearing a Diablo 3 My Little Pony and rainbows T-shirt.

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How about incorporating rainbows in Starcraft? j/k

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So the powerpoint presentation was all about the single player Terran campaign. You are Jim Raynor, the freedom fighter. You direct his actions. You start in Mar Sara, the same place where Starcraft 1 began. Jim meets Tychus Findlay, the marine in the Starcraft 2 cinematic trailer. Findlay knew Raynor back in the day. They both belonged to the group called the Heaven’s Devils.

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Findlay enters the bar.

Findlay: You’re the most wanted man in this sector.

Raynor reaches for his pistol.

Findlay: They call you the people’s hero. Hello Jimmy.

Raynor relaxes.

Raynor: So you’re the model citizen now?

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You can navigate around the bar. You are able to click on the jukebox, TV screen, the bulletin board, and on Tychus Findlay.

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Findlay offers Raynor a business proposition. The client (the Mobbius Foundation, a research group) will pay top dollar if they liberate alien artifacts from the dominion, Arcturus Mensk’s hands.

There will be a unique gimmick to each mission. Mission 3 ‘The Dust Bowl’ is a defense type where you have to hold out from the Zerg for 20 minutes as their creep expands. At the end of the mission, Matt Horner arrives to rescue you. Once on board the Hyperion, Raynor sends his battlecruiser into warp speed.

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You can walk around on the ship and visit the Cantina or the Armory. In the Cantina is Gabriel Taush. He knows about Kerrigan’s past. They went to the same academy. You learn that the Zerg have attacked numerous research facilities. The queen has returned.

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Raynor: ‘She’s come to finish the job.’

Taush: ‘It’s her or us.’

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In the armory you’ll meet Swan, the chief engineer.

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You spend mission credits to customize your force. You’re able to buy technology (for example, 3 mil for Stimpacks or an upgrade that will increase the number of marines in a bunker).

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They’ve taken a new approach to the traditional linear progression. During the middle of the game, the player can choose which missions to take which will effect character interaction. In the campaign the focus is on the universe as a whole. On board the bridge you can access a Star Map. Horner receives a distress call from the fringe planet Haven, a small farming community which Mensk has abandoned. At the same time Findlay says he knows of another location where they can find more alien artifacts.

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So, as you can tell this game is going to be much longer than Starcraft 1. In fact, major BlizzCon announcement:

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Starcraft 2 will be a trilogy. �

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That’s right. The first game will be the Terran campaign titled Wings of Liberty. Second game Zerg campaign called Heart of the Swarm. Third Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void following Zeratul. The three game epics will be staggered. Think of them as expansion packs with the following game being sold some months after the other. Each game will have 26-30 missions and take place chronologically, one after the other with the overall threat being the Xel Naga. There will be some easter egg missions. For instance, in the Terrain campaign there’s a mini-mission where you can play Zeratul, just to give you a taste of the other races. The introduction and ending are fixed, but in the middle is where the story branches leading to alternate missions. The endings will be great. No cliffhangers leading to the next game.

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The Terran campaign is sort of like a Choose Your Own Adventure. The Zerg is like an RPG where you strengthen Kerrigan. Think of it like Warcraft 3’s Orc Campaign. The Protoss will be more of a diplomacy game.

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They showed a storyboard of Kerrigan when she was abandoned by Mensk on New Gettysburg. There will be flashbacks in the form of Kerrigan’s dream where you learn more of her childhood and origins.

Multiplayer campaign will be complete in the first Terran game with a fully represented army for all three races. However, it is still to be determined down the line if you will need the Zerg and Protoss games for multiplayer. It was stated that some units from the campaign won’t show up in multiplayer. �

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4:30 - 5:30 PM Starcraft 2 Art panel, Room 204

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Good ol’ Samwise Didier. There were technical difficulties starting up the presentation so the panel started with Q/A.

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Pre-rendered cinematics will be specific to the storyline. There will be more of them in game. You’ll have an introduction, ending, and a middle. The exact number they are not allowed to say but as many as possible.

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Dark Templar forum art contest? There will be announcements to be made. Notice though that there are a couple designs in game. Bladed either single or double, and with a scythe.

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Comment about the atmosphere being too light in Starcraft 2. There are shimmering desert worlds. Starcraft is still darker. They didn’t want it to be pixelie, but beautiful.

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What was the inspiration for the Protoss color scheme? Protoss were first derived from the gray alien stereotype. Had them wear gold metal to stand out from the purple Zerg. Also makes them look big, the kings of the universe in a sense. Lighting is crucial. It can make the Protoss look like bananas or white gold. They don’t ‘want it to look like ass.’ Inspiration for Terran? Astronauts and Starship Troopers. The Zerg have their own spin. They are ruled by a girl. (Hina: Like the queen bee in a hive.)

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One more tidbit about lighting. There could be a night vision mission. In multiplayer, there is one best lighting for the map. In single player, it won’t just be in a single corner.

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As an art student, what skill set is Blizzard looking for? Modeling and texturing. Strong drawing skills. Animation is too focused of a field.

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How do the artists balance between the styles of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Each game has its own unique style. They have to put the brakes on and be careful not to merge the styles so that they don’t corrupt the other. Although a Blood Elf Protoss…haha.

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Regarding Zerglings. At first they wanted to have multiple types but that didn’t work out.

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Xel Naga watch tower. It’s where the Protoss architecture originated from. Also contains some Zerg influences. The Xel Naga is the mother archetype. They have to reverse backwards from the designs. Not simply Protoss plus Zerg. Still more unique.

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You’d figure that the Zerg Infestor unit would be the least likely to burrow. They have yet to polish the Zerg. Some units will be phased out and changed. Still many more passes to go.

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In Starcraft 2, why are many of the Zerg units more like insects instead of animals? In Starcraft 1 the Zergling was only 8 pixels. They couldn’t figure out what it was. So they envisioned it. The Hydralisk is serpentine with a snake tail and slug body. The Ultralisk is like an elephant or rhino. Zerglings get a wing upgrade which will make them attack faster. Marines will get a riot shield to boost their HP. They hope to include more visual identifiers so you’ll know why you are getting your butt kicked in game.

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How do you define Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Warcraft takes superhero elements. Giant weapons, and more comical humor (clicking on units many times to hear what they’ll say). Starcraft is not as comical. Darker, not shiny and glowing. Diablo is even more dark and more realistic. So Warcraft and Diablo are on opposite ends of the spectrum with Starcraft in the middle.

What they always wanted to do was combine all the Terran buildings into a massive giant robot like Voltron. But there would be too many balance issues with that. There’s so many cool ideas, but it would no longer be Starcraft at that point.

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The different teams work together - art and level designers are in the same building. They bounce ideas back and forth between each other. The artists would come up with something cool, but then the level designers would say you broke the level and it’s no longer balanced.

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What’s their favorite Warcraft race? The Orcs, the epitome of the Horde. From the Alliance side, Dwarfs. They were always a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Dungeon & Dragons.

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Samwise started out on pencil and paper. How did he make the transition from traditional to digital? Drawing with a mouse was a pain in the butt. Once they made tablets it was better. Went on to using Adobe Photoshop after Starcraft Broodwar. Love the undo button. Because it’s digital it saves time having to redu watercolor. Even now drawing a line from one corner diagonally down is hard. Yes, there’s a line tool.

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Overall inspiration for what they do? For the environments, natural forestry. But Blizzard puts their own spin on it. For Samewise, comic books that he paid for with his own money off spin racks. 1977 animated Hobbit movie. Dungeon & Dragons fantasy world. He would draw pictures of group shots of all his buddies’ characters.

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What software do they recommend? 3D Studio Max

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In the Warcraft manual you see the Chris Metzen style in the black and white artwork. Sam said he won an arm wrestling contest with him which is why he’s in command now. >.> Metzen was originally an artist when he first started and later moved to becoming a storyteller. Soon that took up most of his time. His style defined Starcraft. Sam said it was important to keep the original style.

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Chinese artist named Wang Wei did the BlizzCon logo.

He’s super talented as you can tell. They send him reference materials, and he nails it. He doesn’t know much English, and he still lives in Shang Hai. They hope to bring him over to America one day.

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Why does the Lurker look like a crab? Still the first pass. They will re-evaluate the design and make appearance changes.

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Finally the presentation worked…sort of. The video didn’t load until the very end. The panel ran over time. It was the almost the same powerpoint from last year. Strong silhouettes, exaggerated proportions, and bold primary colors.

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Non-Blizzard art piece

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Starcraft Marine (Red = Win)

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The Firebat concept is now a grenader unit called the Marauder. He has a nuclear core, LOL.

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I mentioned last year of a zerg unit with crazy tentacle action. This was actually the original Ultralisk design (or what they wanted to call Omegalisk). It had 4-5 tentacles which it would launch at targets then eat the remains to restore its life.

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The Zergling is like a cross between a pit bull and a raptor.

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Samwise referring to forum posts: ‘Every time you say it has too many wings, I’ll add 2 more!’

Next they showed a funny marine test video (Admittedly, it’s stuff like this that is the reason why Starcraft 2 isn’t done, LOL). Loyal marines would walk up and test their armor against fire, sniper shots, buzz saw, machinegun rounds, logs (curse you Ewoks!), and a nuke. You basically saw the many ways a marine can die.

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There are over 20 unique environments. They showed the tile set for Haven and some four-wheel off-roader vehicle. New Folsom is a prison planet with lava. Albion is war torn between the Terran and Protoss.

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Fin. �

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And that’s the end of BlizzCon for me that day. For dinner I went to Thai Bazil in Fullerton (http://www.thaibasilfullerton.com/). I highly recommend it! Service was a little slow because they were busy. But the food was more than delicious. We ordered Poh Taak soup (Fish, squid, mussel, scallop, shrimp and mushroom in hot and sour soup with a touch of lemon grass) and pineapple curry with roasted duck.

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Day 2 Saturday Oct 11

Diablo 3 day. But first, trying to find F@#)%’*^(& parking!!! I missed the Starcraft 2 Lore panel. Whose bright idea was it to schedule it at noon, right in the middle of lunch? Both neighboring parking lots were closed off saying that they were full. Not true at all! There was plenty of parking on the top level. The exact same spot we parked in yesterday was empty. WTF! We finally parked across the way on Harbor Blvd. The clerk almost didn’t honor the free staff pass until I yelled at the guy. Not a good start to the day. � � �

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1:30 PM World of Warcraft Q/A, Hall C

BlizzCon Announcement: Mounts will be able to swim in water.

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Something about Pandas so as not to upset the Chinese.

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They want to revamp the dispel system so that you can keep the beneficial buffs using dispel to remove the negative ones. �

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World of Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures - Go! Chris Metzen: ‘We’re working hard on it. It has a cool story. If I say anymore I’ll get shot. Have patience. Good things are coming.’

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I didn’t understand any of the rest of it. I played Warcraft 3 but never World of Warcraft.

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3:00 PM Diablo 3 Lore, Hall C �

Diablo 3 is a unique world of horrific darkness. The designers hope to provide a backstory to every civilization. This may be done through character dialogue. Also using the environment as a tool to tell the story. You are free to explore as much or as little as you want in this action RPG. �

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Diablo 3 takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo 2. To the inhabitants, a whole generation has passed. Those with direct experience with past events are dead. Except for Deckard Cain, the last of the Horadrim, who is still alive somehow due to some sort of special clan arts. Cain feels guilty because he believes that he could have ended Diablo earlier. He’s exploring the world to find clues that would help when the day comes that the legions of hell would return. �

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Caldeum is a trade city build on materialism and the free flow of ideas. �

As a contrast to Caldeum, Skovos is based off legend and mythology, equivalent to ancient Greece. You won’t be able to travel there but will hear about the place.

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Diablo 1 and 2 were set in a gray backdrop. In Diablo 3, they respect the past artwork and still emphasize horror. But they will be updating the classic with a new visual look using big, bold shapes, strong silhouettes to avoid symmetry, and select color palettes of green, blue, and purple. It won’t look cartoony. The camera is fixed so they can hand craft each scene. Background movement (ground shaking) adds believability. There will be destructible objects such as chandeliers that you can drop on enemies. �

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Q/A

Is there going to be a secret cow level? Well, that would no longer be a secret would it…

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Everyone is assuming Diablo is coming back. The story continues from the previous games. There won’t be any stuff thrown from left field. There will be a main storyline plus some random quests. Also class specific quests. The developers definitely want to bring closure to the story. � �

You can’t play as a necromancer. They were perfected in Diablo 2. Although you will meet necromancers in the world of Diablo 3. �

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At BlizzCon you could play one of the first dungeons, Sanctuary with three levels of catacombs. 4 player cooperative. Got to choose from a male or female Barbarian or Witch Doctor and female only Wizard. Since it was limited, I played the Wizard, but so did everyone else on the team. It ended up being 3 Wizards and 1 Witch Doctor. I went Battle Wizard like my Battle Sorceress in Diablo 2. Wizards have this slash attack that consumes mana. Wizard class couldn’t equip swords or lances. She could equip axe, mace, and knife. Inventory: Belt, Helm, Shield, Weapon, Boots, Armor, Shoulder, 2 Accessories, and Pants. Inventory equips change your appearance. As we progressed through the game, my clothes changed from red to blue. You couldn’t add to stats. But you choose your skills. In addition, the game engine seemed to keep track of your kill count possibly a bonus. � �

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The boss was the Skeleton King. Within the level you find his crown and use that to initiate the boss sequence. I died against him and respawned at a checkpoint one floor above. You kept all your items. Didn’t have to go back naked and find your dead body as in Diablo 2.

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I miss my Lightning Fury Amazon. They have to bring back some sort of ranged archer unit. � �

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Diablo 3 Witch Doctor

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6:00 PM Comedian Patton Oswalt �

Not for kids. He cusses. He passes in my book. He made fun of the people sitting in the front row. One person was French. Said that the French make great porn and wines.

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He talked about his first jokes he ever came up with, geek material. What if instead of Spiderman, he got bit by a Dung Beetle. You’d figure that if an industrial accident made you into a god, everyone in Russia would be hanging around the nuclear facilities.

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Getting tired of all the people telling you that you’ve been wasting away your life playing World of Warcraft? Well, there are people who waste away their lives in reality. At least in Warcraft, you can pretend that you were a level 70 Warlock exploring the outskirts of Lordaeron. Who knows how many future Hitlers of the world have been prevented because of simply playing Warcraft in their basements.

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Political jokes. Always a safe subject when you insult President Bush. Not as fun anymore because people have stopped defending Bush. Bush keeps saying that future generations will judge his presidency. It’s like the movie Blade Runner or Battlefield Earth. People will still say that is sucked. Bush also brags about getting 10 hours of sleep everyday and being at the peek of his physical and mental condition. Take a look at his speeches. That really is the best that he can do. �

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McCain’s Vietnam story is like the origin of every supervillain. � � �

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He makes a good point that when he was growing up he played Monopoly. But he never dressed up as Mr. Moneybags or as a green house or the shoe. In the same way, people dress up as Warcraft Night Elves. �

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Last joke about Yoshinoya beef bowls. Once you had one there is no seconds. The beef is like shoe laces dipped in air conditioning fluid. Then there’s this image of a face within the beef kinda like when people see the image of Jesus in a potato chip. The face tries to warn you last minute not to eat it.

I played Starcraft 2 single player just because the line was shorter at the time. It wasn’t a campaign mission but head to head against the computer. You choose the opponent’s race and difficulty level. I was Protoss versus Zerg on hard. Cannons saved me. I noticed the computer seemed confused; the first rush of Zerglings were hitting and running away from the cannons as they kept entering and exiting my base. Rushes soon grew more powerful with roaches and hydras. I ended up running out of minerals. I went for Dark Templars. They were ok until Overloads flew by revealing them. Had it gone on for more than 20 minutes I know I would have lost. �

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I’ll end with COSPLAY!!

Harpy

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The angel Tyrael from Diablo. 3rd place winner of the Costume contest.